


you're my golden hour

by abbeghoul



Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22622785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbeghoul/pseuds/abbeghoul
Summary: tumblr prompt fill"i don't want you to regret me" for brotp eddie and Hamid
Relationships: Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Edward Keystone
Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1627597
Comments: 14
Kudos: 49





	you're my golden hour

“Ready to go, Ed?” Hamid asked from the door.

Eddie spun around, looking at his outfit in the mirror with a wide grin on his face. He was wearing a brand new pale gold suit and a cape with sun patterns on it that he hadn’t been able to stop admiring since he’d seen them in the marketplace. “Ready!”

Hamid blinked at the sheer _brightness_ of his friend’s outfit, before smiling. “Great! Thanks for coming with me! None of the others really enjoy these things.”

“I always enjoy your company, Hamid.”

Hamid’s smile brightened and he reached for Ed’s hand to lead him out the door and towards dinner. “That’s so kind of you to say, Eddie. Are you sure you don’t mind? Some of the people I used to go to school with aren’t… the nicest.”

Ed’s expression darkened, his eyebrows drawing together. “Evil-doers?”

“Well, hopefully not,” Hamid said quickly, “But they can be a bit… rude sometimes.”

“Then why do _you_ want to go?”

“Well,” Hamid paused, thinking of the best way he could explain. He wasn’t even entirely sure himself, really, but it was expected of him. Besides, he’d _just_ worked his way back onto his family’s good side, so he’d like to do what was expected as much as possible. At least, the good expectations. “I just think I need to go. Does that make sense?”  
  


“No,” Ed said bluntly. “But I am here to support you! As your _friend._ ” He smiled even wider than usual as he said it, placing a special weight on the word. It was as if it was unfamiliar to him, a special new treasure to be able to say it in reference to himself. Hamid had never asked Eddie about his past, but he had the feeling that before he’d joined the church of Apollo, before he’d met Hamid and his friends, he hadn’t had the best experiences with people.

“I appreciate it.” He squeezed Eddie’s hand as they reached the restaurant where the banquet was being held. “Two for al-Tahan,” he told the maître d’.

“Of course, sir.”

Eddie and Hamid followed the host, and Hamid stopped in his tracks when he saw who was sitting at their shared table. _Oh, no._

His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked upon the image of his ex-girlfriend and his former best friend, smiling and holding hands as they sipped their wine and looked over the room.

“All right, Hamid?” Eddie asked as he felt Hamid’s hand, still gripping his own, stop him from moving forward.

“Yes,” Hamid said in a high-pitched, breathless voice. “Everything’s fine. It’s just- perhaps we should go.”

“Go? But we just got here.”

“Yes, but-“ Hamid sighed as he saw Liliana and Gideon notice him. “Never mind. Let’s just get through this.” He gripped Eddie’s hand tighter, drawing on his warmth and confidence as they reached the table.

“Hamid,” Gideon said, a stiff smile on his face that didn’t meet his eyes. “It’s so good to see you.”

_Was it?_ Hamid remembered his last interactions with the two of them. He couldn’t say he’d ever wanted to see them again, after the hell they had separately caused him, but he recognized a man putting on a polite face for the sake of the public eye. He could play along, he supposed. Besides, arguing with them would only cause a scene, and Hamid wasn’t going to ruin his recently recovered reputation.

Hamid had grown, though, since the last time he’d had to deal with Gideon and Liliana, and he’d learned that, well, he has the power to hurt his enemies. He’d never _do_ it, of course, but imaging their faces if he turned into a dragon in front of them…. Well, it was amusing enough to keep him going. He pasted a smile on his face that was almost real. “It’s good to see you as well. Ed, this is Liliana Beekos and Gideon Marsten-Langdon. We used to go to school together. Liliana, Gideon, this is Edward Keystone, he’s a paladin of Apollo.”

The two blinked as they took in Eddie’s blinding attire, but formalities eventually worn out and they each extended a hand to him, which he shook enthusiastically. “Yes, I can see that,” Gideon said, with a sneer that Hamid recognized but that he knew would go over Eddie’s head. There was a matching expression on Liliana’s face, but she schooled it into a polite blankness quickly.

Eddie held his cape to the side, beaming. “Isn’t it great? I got it at the market last week!”

“It’s something,” Liliana said under her breath. Hamid gritted his teeth, reminding himself that, no matter how much he wanted to, turning into a dragon and clawing their eyes out was not a good idea.

Eddie must not have heard her, because his pleased expression didn’t change as he and Hamid sat down at the table.

“So, Hamid,” Liliana asked. “What have you been doing since we saw you in Prague?”

Hamid thought that was a very generous way to say “since you had me arrested” but he wasn’t about to correct her. “I’ve been… traveling, mostly. Doing some work for the meritocrats.” He supposed Wilde still counted as one, if you thought about it loosely.

“You haven’t returned to your studies?” Liliana frowned disapprovingly. “That’s a shame. There’s a new article on the mathematical properties of dimensional distortion I was hoping to discuss with you. Professor Einstein wrote it, and-“

“Oh, we know him!” Eddie grinned. “He’s great! We should talk to him tonight, Hamid. I miss him.”

“What on _earth_ could _you_ possibly have to talk to Einstein about?” Gideon laughed. “The man’s a genius, I doubt he has time for _you_.”

Eddie’s demeanor, which had been pleasant all night, shifted, and his voice took on a hardness Hamid rarely heard from him. “Professor Einstein is my _friend_.”

“Einstein has been assisting us in our work,” Hamid chimed in, trying to control the situation. “Ed’s right, Einstein _is_ our friend. He and Ed have become quite close.”

“That’s a shame,” Gideon sighed. “I’d heard the man had gone senile, but I was hoping the rumors were wrong.” His sneer became even more smug as he said, “Clearly that’s not the case if he’s spending his time with _paladins_. Of Apollo, no less. Airheads, the whole lot.”

Eddie stood up, towering over Gideon even more than he would normally. “I’m _not an idiot._ And being a paladin of Apollo is a _great_ honor, one you will never be able to achieve. You have too much _evil_ in side you.” It was angrier than Hamid had ever heard him, and it made Hamid stand up and reach for his hand again. Eddie shrugged it away, then turned and walked off.

Hamid turned and glared at his former friends. “The two of you are really horrible, you know that?”

“You only think that because you’ve been away for so long. Honestly, Hamid, even you could do better,” Liliana said, scoffing.

“ _No_ , quite frankly I’m not sure there _is_ a better person than Ed in the world, and I’m more than grateful that I have him for a friend now, and not the two of you.” Hamid looked at them disdainfully and, forgoing any hope of redeeming the evening, spat, “Go drop off the side of your _precious_ university,” then ran to catch up with Ed.

He found Eddie standing at the edge of the bridge overlooking the river, his back facing Hamid. “Eddie, I’m sorry about them. I told you, they’re all _awful_.”

“It’s not _your_ fault,” Ed said. “And- they’re not _wrong._ I can’t- talk about that kind of stuff.” Hamid reached for Eddie’s hand again, and Eddie pulled it in front of him. “I- I don’t want to hold hands right now.”

“Okay. Could you turn and look at me?” When he did, Hamid said, “They _were_ wrong. You don’t need to be able to talk about… interdimensional _rifts_. You’ve lived them, and you came out the other side a better person than either of them.”

“I just-“ Eddie sniffed, and Hamid realized he was crying. “I know that you- you’re trying to be a part of this, again, for your family, and- my family pushed me _away_ from this, Hamid, because I wasn’t good enough. I don’t- I don’t want you to regret me.”

Hamid was overcome with the urge to hug him, but he knew his friend wouldn’t want that right now. “ _Eddie,_ I meant what I said. You’re better than all of them, and I don’t care about being a part of this life anymore if it won’t accept my friends. Forget about the banquet, okay? All I want to do is have a nice night.” Eddie nodded and Hamid pushed further. “Do you want to go to that ice cream shop we passed on the way in? Honestly, I just had to have a horrible conversation with my ex and her new fiancé, so really I’m owed a little ice cream.”

Eddie let out a soft smile. “Okay.”

They walked side by side for a few minutes until they reached the ice cream parlor, where they ordered two cones, and then sat on a bench outside, overlooking the river. “Mmmmm,” hummed Hamid as he licked his chocolate ice cream. “This is much better than whatever they would have had on the menu.”

Eddie smiled, his mood improved. “It is.” He thought for a moment. “Hamid, could I have a hug now?”

Hamid grinned and leaned over to hug his friend. Eddie was twice his size, and his hugs enveloped Hamid completely, which was one of Hamid’s favorite things about him. “I know tonight was awful, but thank you for coming with me.”

“It wasn’t too bad,” Eddie said cheerfully, pulling back from the hug. “Nothing can ruin ice cream.”

Hamid laughed and tapped his cone against Ed’s. “You’re not wrong there. Next time let’s just skip straight to the ice cream, though.”  
  


**Author's Note:**

> title from Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves


End file.
